Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To treat (cotton thread) with sodium hydroxide so as to shrink the fiber and increase its luster and affinity for dye.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To treat (cotton fiber or fabrics) with a solution of caustic alkali according to the method of mercerization. Also spelled
mercerise .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To treat (cotton fiber or fabrics) with a solution of caustic alkali. Such treatment causes the fiber to shrink in length and become stronger and more receptive of dyes. If the yarn or cloth is kept under tension during the process, it assumes a silky luster.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To treat
cotton fabric withsodium hydroxide to make it morelustrous and accepting of dyes.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb treat to strengthen and improve the luster
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[After John Mercer, (1791–1866), British calico printer.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From the inventor of the process John Mercer of Great Harwood, Lancashire, in the middle of the 19th century.
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Examples
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She held out against the two eighth-grade finalists for three rounds to take third place, correctly spelling "embarcadero" and "mercerize" and "indigenous" before stumbling on
tcpalm.com Stories 2010
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She held out against the two eighth-grade finalists for three rounds to take third place, correctly spelling "embarcadero" and "mercerize" and "indigenous" before stumbling on
tcpalm.com Stories 2010
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